View source for Label (Mac OS)

In [[Apple Inc.|Apple]]'s [[Macintosh operating systems]], '''labels''' are a type of seven distinct colored and named parameters of [[metadata]] that can be attributed to items (files, folders and disks) in the [[filesystem]].<ref name=Poole-p11>{{cite book |last=Poole |first=Lon |date=1991 |chapter=Item labels |title=[[Macworld]] guide to System 7 |location=San Mateo, Calif. |publisher=[[IDG Books]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/macworldguidetos0000pool/page/11 11–12] |isbn=1878058169 |oclc=29876799 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/macworldguidetos0000pool/page/11 |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref> Labels were introduced in Macintosh [[System 7]], released in 1991,<ref name=Poole-p97>{{cite book |last=Poole |first=Lon |date=1991 |chapter=Labeling items |title=[[Macworld]] guide to System 7 |location=San Mateo, Calif. |publisher=[[IDG Books]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/macworldguidetos0000pool/page/97 97–100] |isbn=1878058169 |oclc=29876799 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/macworldguidetos0000pool/page/97 |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref> and they were an improvement of the ability to colorize items in earlier versions of the [[Finder (software)|Finder]].<ref name=Poole-p11/> Labels remained a feature of the Macintosh operating system through the end of [[Mac OS 9]] in late 2001, but they were omitted from [[Mac OS X]] versions 10.0 to 10.2,<ref>{{cite news |last=Pogue |first=David |author-link=David Pogue |date=29 March 2001 |title=State of the art: A new face (and heart) for the Mac |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=G1 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/29/technology/state-of-the-art-a-new-face-and-heart-for-the-mac.html |quote=You'll really miss only a handful of discarded Mac OS 9 features, like the Labels menu (for quickly categorizing your files)&nbsp;...}}</ref> before being reintroduced in version 10.3 in 2003,<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Snell |first=Jason |author-link=Jason Snell (writer) |date=May 2021 |title=From Aqua to Catalina: the evolution of Mac OS X |magazine=[[Macworld]] |volume=38 |issue=5 |pages=62–71 |url=https://www.macworld.com/article/340395/from-aqua-to-catalina-the-evolution-of-the-mac-os-x-operating-system.html |quote=Mac OS X 10.3 Panther: Arrived in the fall of 2003, Panther integrated Apple-branded cloud storage support for the first time, via iDisk. The Finder added a sidebar, which is a handy place to store familiar folders to this day, and colored labels for files.}}</ref> though not without criticism.<ref name=Siracusa2003>{{cite web |last=Siracusa |first=John |date=9 November 2003 |title=Mac OS X 10.3 Panther: The Ars Technica Review: Labels |url=https://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2003/11/macosx-10-3.ars/9#finder-labels |website=arstechnica.com |publisher=[[Ars Technica]] |access-date=8 October 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090525095432/https://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2003/11/macosx-10-3.ars/9#finder-labels |archive-date=25 May 2009}}</ref> During the short time period when Mac OS X lacked labels, third-party software replicated the feature.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Landau |first=Ted |date=July 2002 |title=Mac Software Bargains: XRay 1.0 |magazine=[[Macworld]] |volume=19 |issue=7 |page=63 |url=https://www.macworld.com/article/151073/bargain.html |quote=XRay can also create Unix symbolic links and assign colored labels to files (an OS 9 feature not included in OS X).}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Cohen |first=Peter |date=9 October 2002 |title=Labels X adds color-coding to OS X files |website=[[Macworld]] |url=https://www.macworld.com/article/151073/bargain.html |quote=Miss being able to color-code your files like you could in Mac OS 9? Unsanity LLC has released a new OS X 'haxie' called Labels X 1.0. The software enables you to add various color tints to file icons, adding the ability to sort the files by label as well (it adds a 'Label' column to the Finder list view).}}</ref>

==In classic Mac OS==
In [[classic Mac OS]] versions 7 through 9, applying a label to an item causes the item's icon to be tinted in that color when using a color [[computer monitor]] (as opposed to the black-and-white monitors of early Macs), and labels can be used as a search and sorting criterion.<ref name=Poole-p97/><ref name=Pogue2000>{{cite book |last=Pogue |first=David |author-link=David Pogue |date=2000 |chapter=Using labels |title=Mac OS 9: the missing manual |location=Sebastopol, CA |publisher=[[Pogue Press]], [[O'Reilly Media]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/macos9missingman00pogu/page/40 40–43] |isbn=1565928571 |oclc=43813092 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/macos9missingman00pogu/page/40 |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref> There is a choice of seven colors because three bits are reserved for the label color: <code>001</code> through <code>111</code>, and <code>000</code> for no label. The names of the colors can be changed to represent categories assigned to the label colors.<ref name=Poole-p97/><ref name=Pogue2000/> Both label colors and names can be customized in the classic Mac OS systems; however, [[Mac OS 8]] and 9 provided this functionality through the Labels tab in the Finder Preferences dialog, while System 7 provided a separate Labels control panel.<ref name=Poole-p97/><ref name=Pogue2000/> Labels in Mac OS 9 and earlier, once customized, were specific to an individual install; booting into another install, be it on another Mac or different disk would show different colors and names unless set identically. A colorless label could be produced by changing a label's color to black or white.<ref name=Poole-p97/><ref name=Pogue2000/>

==In Mac OS X and later==
Mac OS X versions 10.3 to 10.8 apply the label color to the background of item names, except when an item is selected in column view, which changes the item name to the standard highlight color except for a label-colored dot after the name.<ref name=Siracusa2003/> Beginning in [[OS X 10.9]], the label-colored background of item names is replaced with a small label-colored dot, and becomes a kind of [[Tag (metadata)|tag]].<ref name=Siracusa2003/>

==Relation to tags==
The Mac operating system has allowed users to assign multiple arbitrary tags as [[extended file attributes]] to any item ever since OS X 10.9 was released in 2013.<ref name=Siracusa2013a>{{cite web |last=Siracusa |first=John |date=22 October 2013 |title=OS X 10.9 Mavericks: The Ars Technica Review: Tags |url=https://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10/os-x-10-9/8/ |website=arstechnica.com |publisher=[[Ars Technica]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109052357/http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10/os-x-10-9/8/ |archive-date=9 January 2017}}</ref> These tags coexist with the legacy label system for backward compatibility, so that multiple colored (or colorless) tags can be added to a single item, but only the last colored tag applied to an item will set the legacy label that will be seen when viewing the item in the older operating systems.<ref name=Siracusa2013b>{{cite web |last=Siracusa |first=John |date=22 October 2013 |title=OS X 10.9 Mavericks: The Ars Technica Review: Tags implementation |url=https://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10/os-x-10-9/9/ |website=arstechnica.com |publisher=[[Ars Technica]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106231211/http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10/os-x-10-9/9/ |archive-date=6 January 2017}}</ref> Labeled items that were created in the older operating systems will superficially seem to be tagged in OS X 10.9 and later even though they are only labeled and lack the newer tag extended file attributes (until they are edited in the new system).<ref name=Siracusa2013b/> Since label colors can be changed in classic Mac OS but are standardized and unchangeable in the newer operating systems, someone who wants to synchronize the label colors between a classic and modern system can change the label colors in classic Mac OS to match the newer system.<ref>{{cite web |title=OS X/OS 9 Finder label inconsistencies: update on 'correspondences' |date=2 September 2009 |url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/os-xos-9-finder-label-inconsistencies-update-on-correspondences/ |website=[[CNET]] |access-date=8 October 2021}}</ref>

==See also==
* {{slink|Tag (metadata)#Assigned to computer files}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Mac OS}}

[[Category:MacOS]]


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